The decision on appointing the 64-year-old Singh, a former IAS officer, as the next CIC was taken unanimously by a panel comprising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, and Law Minister Kapil Sibal, CIC sources said.
Singh will be the second woman to become CIC after Deepak Sandhu, whose term comes to an end later this month.
Being the senior-most Information Commissioner, Singh was the unanimous choice for the post of CIC, sources said.
She is a former Secretary to the Government of India and belongs to the Jharkhand cadre. She had joined IAS in 1972. Singh has served as a Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
She has also served in the capacity of Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and also in the Ministry for the Development of the North Eastern Region (DONER).